Since China has now made the transition to modern growth, given the scale of the Chinese economy, its geographical connectivity, political centralization and social cohesiveness may bring China back to the global forefront of technology and prosperity, provided that the incentives to innovate are maintained. Nevertheless, the lack of sufficient diversity in China may limit this process. In this respect, it would be prudent for China to adopt an education curriculum that would foster critical thinking and thus diversity and cross-fertilization of ideas.
Historically, when the pace of technological progress was relatively low, high geographical and political unity, as existed in China, despite its adverse effect on competition and innovation, allows centralized regimes to govern enormous empires efficiently and foster economic growth by establishing the rule of law and investing in public goods. But when technological progress accelerated, geographical fragmentation as existed in Europe, despite their adverse effect on social cohesiveness, facilitated competition and innovations and contributed to the earlier take-off of Europe.
Since China has now made the transition to modern growth, given the scale of the Chinese economy, its geographical connectivity, political centralization and social cohesiveness may bring China back to the global forefront of technology and prosperity, provided that the incentives to innovate are maintained. Nevertheless, the lack of sufficient diversity in China may limit this process. In this respect, it would be prudent for China to adopt an education curriculum that would foster critical thinking and thus diversity and cross-fertilization of ideas.
Historically, when the pace of technological progress was relatively low, high geographical and political unity, as existed in China, despite its adverse effect on competition and innovation, allows centralized regimes to govern enormous empires efficiently and foster economic growth by establishing the rule of law and investing in public goods. But when technological progress accelerated, geographical fragmentation as existed in Europe, despite their adverse effect on social cohesiveness, facilitated competition and innovations and contributed to the earlier take-off of Europe.